Jedi Queen: Throne of Balance
by AmazingGraceless
Summary: In the final installment of the Jedi Queen series, Nellith Solo makes a bid for peace by giving herself over to the new Emperor of the Second Order: her first love, Tallis Shan. But with his promise to end the war comes an order from Abeloth, an ancient chaotic Force entity that has an agenda of her own. Nellith must ascend the Throne of Balance and decide the balance for all time.
1. The Last Hope

As soon as Nellith's fingers brushed against the material, she knew this was the dress she would wear. The pattern was designed after one of Queen Amidala's infamous lost dresses. She pulled it off of the hanger and tried it on.

Never had she been so nervous about her choice in dress.

The only reason she hadn't picked the red Hapan dress was because she needed someone else to help her with all the straps and zippers. Otherwise she would've worn the dress she had on the night she learned Tallis loved her. She could only hope at least her braids and keeping her promise could bring him back to the light.

She pulled at the edges to make sure the poufy skirt and sleeves hung right, and took one last look in the full length mirror. She was no Padmé, but she was beautiful in her own right. With this dress, she could at least look more confident than she felt. Beneath her dress were much more practical ankle boots that were well-worn from various adventures.

She squared her shoulders back. She could do this. At least for the sake of the galaxy. She pulled back her sleeve to reveal where she had attached her commlink on a bracelet.

"Mitaka, you said that the _Millennium Falcon_ was put back in commission?" Nellith asked.

"It is," Mitaka replied.

"Good," Nellith said. "I'll be down to retrieve it in five."

"Copy that," Mitaka said. He hesitated a moment. "What will I tell your parents?"

"Tell them what's going on after I've leapt into hyperspace— there's nothing they can do then," Nellith assured him.

"Before then?" Mitaka asked.

"Tell them I'm on an errand for Jaina," Nellith said as she left her apartment.

"And what do I tell Jaina?" Mitaka asked.

"Tell Jaina that my parents sent me on an errand— but I'll going into hyperspace in like, ten standard minutes top, so I wouldn't worry about that," Nellith said as she continued down the hallway. "I'll be down soon."

She dropped her sleeve and picked up the hem of her skirt so she could fly down the stairs, and into the hangar. Passing by several Imperial officers, heart racing, Nellith could sense that they had not suspected a thing. She could also feel the fear, the fear that came with the possibility of dying a fiery, cataclysmic death.

 _Get to Tallis, and the war will be over,_ she reminded herself. _He promised._

Even though he was the Emperor of the Second Order now, she couldn't help but still believe him. The fact that he ascended the throne for her, to try to save her from the rogue Jedi, that hadn't gone unnoticed. She knew she would do whatever she could to save him from himself and Andromeda Hux.

And right now, that meant sending herself to him and trusting that he was still the boy she met on Corellia so long ago.

She entered the hangar and felt the eyes of those questioning her fancy dress and pretty hair, but ultimately the TIE pilots and mechanics ignored it. Their princess could be strange every once in a while, but she was a good flier and an even better Jedi.

Seeing their faces was the realization all over again that she would be ruling over them. She could not let them down. Nellith may have accepted that burden during the Jedi Civil War, but that was with the Jedi.

These people were guided by the Force in much more subtle and admirable ways. They followed their consciences, and didn't let stupid preconceived notions about the balance of the world make their decisions.

They lived for today, not for tomorrow. And Nellith loved that about her future subjects.

She strode down the aisle to the ship she had missed so much. Ever since its crash-landing on Uphatu, the _Millennium Falcon_ had been subject to severe repairs, cleans, and updates to make it safer and legal. As soon as Nellith approached it, the loading ramp opened, and a female First Order mechanic stepped out, followed by a small crew.

"Your co-pilot already made it, Your Highness," the mechanic said. She gave Nellith a small smile and clapped her on the shoulder. "You're a brave girl, being willing to end the war like this. May the Force be with you."

Nellith graciously nodded. "And also with you."

The mechanics left, and Nellith briefly wondered who her co-pilot was. She had honestly forgotten that the _Falcon_ needed two pilots. Someone, most likely Mitaka, was looking out for her.

When she entered the cockpit, she saw Chewbacca in the co-pilot's seat.

"Chewie!" Nellith cried as she hugged the Wookiee. "I haven't seen you so much, lately!"

" **I've had many missions** ," Chewbacca said. " **Mitaka called me in, said he didn't want you going alone."**

"So you're fine with the plan?" Nellith asked incredulously as she swiped at fur that had gotten caught on her dress.

" **Your mother once decided that she would mail herself to your father to convince him to turn on the Supreme Leader,** " Chewbacca said. " **I've seen worse plans.** "

"Thanks," Nellith said as she went back to close the loading ramp. She returned to the cockpit and buckled herself in. "We've got to get to Jakku— we're landing outside Palpatine's old observatory."

" **What's there?** " Chewbacca asked.

"I don't know," Nellith admitted. "But Tallis wants me to meet him there."

" **We don't want to keep him waiting, then** ," Chewbacca said.

"You're right," Nellith said. She tapped the radio. "Mission control, this is Angel Blue, requesting permission to take off."

A technician's voice came over. "Angel Blue cleared for takeoff."

Nellith took a deep breath. Then, they launched themselves into space, and then into hyperspace.


	2. Palpatine's Observatory

_Flames licked at the underbrush of the deep forests. The heat singed her hair, making it frizz and poof, but that was the last priority at the moment. All she could do was pump her arms faster, lift her knees higher, praying that she could outrun the fire._

 _Tallis was right by her side, keeping up with her stride in a perfect mirror image. She only stole glances out of the side of her eyes. He never looked at her. Yet he kept up with her perfectly as the inferno behind them roared and whirled around, consuming all in its path._

 _The Force was screaming out at Nellith. First-hand, she felt the agony and suffering of the ancient forest burning around her, as if she were burning herself. She screamed for the pain of it, and that was when Tallis looked at her. He stopped, extending his arm so she would stop._

 _That only made it worse. With no distraction like the flight for her life, she felt the burning more intensely. She clutched at strands of her hair, wrenched her eyes shut and fell to her knees, curling them up to her chest as she fell to her side._

 _Surely she would die of this pain, if not the fire that was closing in on them all._

 _Tallis tapped her shoulder, trying to see if he could undo the damage he had unwittingly caused, but Nellith writhed away from his touch. She didn't want to feel anything anymore. Death, or severance from the Force. . . That would be better than the suffering._

 _Tallis looked around wildly. The flames were withstanding only inches away from the two of them. Then he outstretched his hand, and the fire withdrew into one ring. The flames stretched to the sky, and Tallis brought his palms down to the ground. The fire obeyed, and quelled itself in a single, final blaze. Exhausted from the effort, Tallis fell over next to her._

 _Nellith slowly propped herself up as the last of the pain faded. Her ears were ringing, her voice hoarse. Her body felt like it was a thousand miles away. She was no longer here. Everything was disconnected. Confused, she looked to Tallis. She couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. She felt nothing._

* * *

Slowly blinking back to consciousness, Nellith realized that the Millennium Falcon had exited hyperspace. She looked to Chewbacca, who was asleep himself in his chair. Using the Force, she gently woke him, and they navigated the craft to the coordinates they found within the Imperial archives.

Remnants from Scarif revealed the location of the observatory, and it was far from any known settlements. According to activity logs as well, it looked as if no one had visited since the Emperor himself had died.

From the atmosphere, Nellith couldn't spot it. According to her records, there was some sort of cloaking device that made it blend into the endless desert of Jakku. She punched in the specific coordinates, and the map on the Falcon's console regenerated, showing the new location in relation to them.

"I like these new upgrades," Nellith admitted.

Chewbacca roared his assent.

Nothing was there to stop them, other than the cloaking device. No anti-aircraft blasters, no guards from the Second Order. . . Nothing.

* * *

Nellith stood outside of the _Falcon_ , landed safely on the dented, rusted landing strip. The cold wind blew her dress so it billowed like the cloth strips on her mother's clothes. She stared at the lifeless horizon, remembering the similar landscape of Tatooine.

Once, in the Kenobi house, when she had built her first lightsaber, her mother had told her a myth about Jakku. How it had once been green before some cataclysmic event involving twins.

Seeing the cold desert of Jakku now, Nellith wondered how anyone could believe that had once been true. Sure, there were small clumps of spiky green plants here and there. But there was nothing bigger than that. Not a single oasis. There were large rivers, but nothing grew near there.

The more she stared at it, the colder Nellith felt. Like the cave on Anch-To, Jakku radiated pure death. Except for one place— the observatory. There, she could feel light, as strong and brilliant as the sun.

 _How could that be?_ Nellith wondered as she turned around to face the abandoned facility. _Why would Palpatine be interested in the light, if he was a Sith Lord?_

Shivering, she finally decided to enter. There was no point putting it off. She had made a promise to Tallis. Hopefully, he would keep his to her. Tentatively, she pushed a sheet of metal to the side that functioned as a door, and entered.

The sands of time on Jakku had not been kind to the observatory. Sheets of metal had fallen off and the insides were covered in grit and sand. All the technology that had been invested into this location had weathered away to nearly nothing. None of it was recoverable.

As someone who had once loved making droid creatures from spare parts, it saddened Nellith to see so much go to waste. Then again, maybe some of it had survived. The scavengers were all over Jakku, after all.

Reminding herself why she was there, Nellith pressed on, ascending the staircase to the upper level, where all of the winds forced themselves through the breaks in the observatory walls. She pulled open a door, and inside saw Tallis sitting in an old chair. He stood, sudden.

"You came," he said breathlessly, as she stepped forward.

"No weapons," Nellith said. "Chewbacca is staying in the Falcon. No one knows I'm here. I've done everything you've asked. Will you end the war?"

"Of course," he murmured, drawing closer. "It's all over. It will be, anyway."

"I've never had any interest in carrying on Andromeda's silly war anyway," a chilling female voice said.

Nellith and Tallis turned to see Abeloth, inhabiting Andromeda Hux's body, step forward.

"What do you mean?" Nellith asked, looking from Tallis to Abeloth, and then to Tallis. "I thought you willingly joined with Andromeda."

"Oh, she just happened to be an easy host, one I can discard once I get what I want," Abeloth said with a chilling laugh. "If there is any of her left. I suspect Andromeda Hux is quite dead."

Nellith realized the cold wasn't jut due to the Jakku winds. It was the evil in front of her. She had never liked Andromeda— had even tried to kill her, a few times. But the total annihilation of her soul wasn't something Nellith would've wished on her. Not on her worst enemy.

Nellith swallowed. "What do you want, then?"

"Simple," Abeloth said, as Andromeda's blue eyes turned completely black and twinkled with mischief. "I want my children."


	3. The Ones

"Your children?" Nellith blinked, unsure of how to respond.

"The Son and the Daughter," Abeloth said. "Surely you know the stories, Nellith?"

"Because you were the Mother, I know about how they locked you into Centerpoint Station, and that was how you became Snoke," Nellith said. "I know that, but shouldn't you go to Mortis?"

"That's where you come in," Abeloth said. "The Chosen One's family has always had an inclination towards Mortis. It cannot be found by any map. But it can be found by you. You're like a living compass for it."

"What if I refuse?" Nellith asked. "What if I tell Chewie to high-tail us out of here?"

"Then the war continues," Abeloth said, glancing at Tallis. "Neither of us are willing to let you go either, now that we're so close to getting what we want." Andromeda then placed her hand on the armored shoulder of Tallis's black robe, and his expression went blank and frozen at her touch.

"I'll do it," Nellith said reluctantly. "I'll call Chewie off."

"Good girl," Abeloth crooned. "So obedient."

Nellith raised her commlink. "Chewie, return to Uphatu. I'll signal you when I can. Things got a bit more dicey."

There came a roar of protest.

"I don't like this either, but we've got no other choice," Nellith said. "The War will be over, and I will not be the reason it goes on."

There were a few more reluctant grumbles before Chewbacca finally agreed.

"Sorry," was all Nellith said before turning off her commlink. She placed it in Tallis's outstretched hand, her hazel eyes pleading with him. "This isn't who you are."

"You don't know me at all," Tallis said, clenching his jaw. There was a defiant glimmer in his eye.

"What are you talking about?" Nellith demanded. "I might not have known you a long time, Tallis Shan, but I know who you are! You fought to keep Abeloth from emerging. I thought you even died to stop her in Artorias!"

"He's learned where his true family is," Abeloth said, curling her hand tighter over Tallis's shoulder. Her expression was almost maternal. "We are related, through one of my previous hosts. I am his only family, you could say."

"That's not true," Nellith sad. "Do you know why Galen isn't here? He's on Chandrila, begging the Senate for your life when the war is over. You know that as an Emperor of the enemy, your neck would be the first in the noose?"

Tallis paled considerably, but Abeloth just smiled at her, as if amused. She tilted her head ever so slightly.

"When I'm done with Tallis, he won't need his pathetic father's begging," Abeloth said. "Besides, who's to say it isn't a lie you're telling?"

Nellith frowned. "Tallis, I'd never—"

"I know."

Nellith blinked. The words were so quiet, she wasn't sure that she had truly heard them. But still she knew what she had heard. His eyes flicked up to meet hers, and they were a plea for trust.

* * *

It was a leap of faith. . . And Nellith was going to take it, and keep taking it. Until she ran out of chances and they were all spent.

"Best not delay, then," Nellith said. "Come on."

"That's the spirit," Andromeda said with a grin and beautiful and terrible as the sunset.

It had been a long time since Ben Solo had destroyed a control panel. For the first time in nearly a decade, that streak had been broken with the control panel sporting the burn marks of his lightsaber in front of him. Poor General Mitaka stood shuddering in the center of the room, with no cover and remembering quite un-fondly his earlier days as a lieutenant under Ben.

Rey pinched her nose and sighed at her husband's ridiculousness and the incompetence of Mitaka.

"You. Let. My. Daughter. Do. What. Now?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"She utilized her authority, gave a royal command," Mitaka protested. "I had to—"

"We outrank her!" Ben protested, staring at the singeing control panel.

"Yes, well, erm, there is the fact that a truce has just been declared," Mitaka said, already winding in preparation for the legendary Skywalker anger. "The War is over because of Nellith."

Rey face palmed.

Ben turned off his lightsaber, and turned to Rey. "You know what we have to do."

Rey rubbed her forehead, having smacked it a bit too hard in her frustration with the stupidity of her situation. She looked up to Ben. "Ground her for the rest of her life?"

"That too," Ben admitted. "But first we need to get in touch with Chewie, and see if we can get to wherever on Jakku Nellith is."

"Right," Rey said. "I only hope it isn't too late."

"Me too," Ben said softly.

"And get Jaina," Rey said. "Call Kyp and Galen back too. We'll need Kyp to rally our Jedi. I've done some research on Abeloth. . . If she's in half the legends I think she is, we're going to need all the help we can defeating her."

"We did it once," Ben said.

"We only got rid of Snoke as a host," Rey said. "We didn't get rid of the spirit."

Ben's expression darkened. "I won't let Snoke hurt anyone else."

"Then we have to hurry," Rey said. She looked to Mitaka. "Send in a signal for all Jedi and let Jaina know to comm us. We've got our daughter to find."


	4. Mortis

"Reach out," Abeloth instructed. She paused as Nellith stretched her hand out, then swatted at it. "Not physically!"

Nellith's eyes flew open to glare at her dark new mentor. "I know that. Gestures help with control."

"Just reach out, find the place that calls to you," Abeloth crooned, sounding like a mother trying to send her child to bed. "It should feel primal and familiar."

"Shut up and let me think," Nellith said as she prepped flight switches. There were so many other worlds that called to her. There was Jakku's desolation surrounding her. There was the home Anch-To had become. There was Tatooine's strong, fateful history. There was the outcry and slightest relief of Corellia, a world brought to its knees by the Empire so long ago. She could feel Aquilae as a faint memory, one tinged by her experience of Kiernan Solsaur and his rogue Jedi. Nellith could even feel echoes of Alderaan, screaming out for someone to listen.

Nellith closed her eyes, working through the weaving patterns of life. That was when she found it. The ancient light lurking at the edge of the galaxy. The coordinates flew effortlessly from her mind to the screen, even though she couldn't process it viscerally enough to remember. She began the liftoff procedures. Tallis sat in the co-pilot's seat of the Imperial shuttle, instinctively helping with the process.

Even now, when Nellith felt like she was mentally so far apart from him, they were still linked. He had thrown up walls and protections around his mind in the Force, and his previously telling expressions had become indecipherable.

The shuttle hovered before lifting off, leaving behind the observatory. Yet Nellith could feel that the light, the only spot of it on an entire planet that reeked of death, was somehow important.

But it wasn't important now.

Once they had left the atmosphere of Jakku, it was to Mortis. Nellith punched it into hyperspace, and saw the estimate for time. "Four standard hours till Mortis."

Abeloth shook her head disapprovingly, sending Andromeda's red braid tumbling down her shoulder. She leaned back in her chair. "Hyperspace is so slow."

Nellith stonily glared at the blue-streaked sky in front of her.

* * *

"She did what?" Jaina blinked, then shifted her weight to her other leg. "I shouldn't be surprised, you did the same thing, Rey."

Rey's cheeks turned red. "Now is not the time—"

"You wanted to Chewbacca to trust you," Jaina said. "And he did. I'm guessing that's why he helped now. He knows it'll work out." She glanced at her brother and her confidence faltered a little. "Eventually."

Ben and Rey shared a longing glance before looking back to Jaina. "We're going to save her. But I need a favor from you."

"Name it." In that moment, Jaina resembled Han Solo so much.

"Rally all the Jedi, Kyp, Rowley, all of them that aren't on the tribunal for the Jedi Civil War," Rey said. "Ben's already alerted Kaydel as to what's about to happen."

"We're going to fight Snoke, Abeloth, whatever," Jaina realized aloud.

"And we're going to make sure the spirit stays dead," Ben said.

"Luke said you couldn't kill a Force Ghost," Jaina said with a frown.

"There's a way," Rey said in a mystic, vague tone. "Nellith will be key, if the visions are all true."

Jaina's eyes widened. "The Throne of Balance, when she decides the balance of the Force. . . "

Rey nodded. "We need you to rally the troops, be the Sword of the Jedi. So Snoke can never hurt anyone again like she's hurt us."

Jaina nodded again.

* * *

The first indication that they had reached Mortis was the light. It filled the entire cockpit, blinding Nellith and turning the entire cockpit white. Then they were falling. Nellith hit switches and pulled throttles frantically, trying to pull up, barely doing so before they hit the ground.

"There." Abeloth pointed to a marvelous palace that stood out against the gorgeous landscape. "That is where I'll find my children."

Nellith glanced over her shoulder. Abeloth smiled widely, an eerie expression that made her feel cold and dead inside. She looked to Tallis, who was still expressionless, even looking at all of the wonders below.

That hit her harder. What had happened to him since he was captured to cause him to become so unrecognizable?

She landed on a pavilion with a mural upon it. It resembled the symbol in the pool in the temple on Anch-To. Nellith undid her restraints and stood up, regretting her choice of the dress more and more.

"Let's find your children."


	5. The Condor's Lament

Abeloth raced out of the ship, leaving Nellith and Tallis behind.

"You know, we could ditch her right now," Nellith said.

"And you know that would delay the problem," Tallis retorted. "She's resilient and more powerful than we know. We shouldn't even be having this conversation."

"Why not?" Nellith asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She's got her little tentacles up here!" Tallis hissed, gesturing towards his white-streaked hair.

"Tentacles? What tentacles?" Nellith asked.

Before Tallis could respond, they both hovered above the ground about an inch, as if they were picked up like a child's doll. Tallis went limp, as if he had been victim to it before and knew better than to struggle. Nellith kicked and flailed in the air, trying to fight as Abeloth dragged the two of them out with the Force.

They flew into a strange room in the beautiful palace, with only a single throne in it. Nellith's heart rate picked up. It wasn't the Throne of Balance. . . But what if Abeloth thought it was?

Abeloth stood in front of the throne, and slammed Nellith and Tallis into the floor. Before she could prop herself up, she felt Tallis by her side. Leaking through the walls he had placed were feelings of love and compassion. Then, as soon as Abeloth had turned around, he retracted his hands, pulled away from her, and plugged up the shields within again.

Nellith looked to him, confused as to why, and then looked to Abeloth standing over them, tears running down her cheeks. Her eyes were turning from completely black to red, and Nellith felt an immediate draft in the room.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Abeloth roared, and all of the windows broke and a howling wind burst through them. Nellith pressed herself to the floor as the winds grew in strength.

"I don't know!" Nellith cried as Abeloth stormed forward towards her. With a simple flourish, she raised Nellith to meet her eyes.

"WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?" Abeloth screamed. "WHY CAN'T I SENSE THEM?"

"I don't know!" Nellith repeated, flailing as the fist starting closing, and she felt one closing around her neck as she felt Abeloth begin to comb through her mind like Kiernan did. Just as she started seeing black spots—

She fell to the ground in a heap, and began sobbing as Abeloth stood over her. She could feel Tallis's eyes on her, longing to come to her side. The question was why he wouldn't.

"You truly don't know," Abeloth said, her voice quiet. She blinked, and her eyes turned from red to black again. "I still cannot sense them. . . That means someone used the Dagger."

"Dagger?" Nellith asked.

"The only weapon that could kill Ashla or Bogan," Abeloth said. "Or their father. All of us were vulnerable to it. Their father created it in case either tried to escape this world. One of them must've used it on him first."

Abeloth dropped to her knees, and Nellith felt as if she was drowning in the ancient being's grief. Somewhere, she heard a condor's sweet, high notes making a melody of lament. Yet there was something hopeful to it. Optimism and forgiveness filled the bird's song, and it pierced Abeloth's dark heart.

The tide of grief ebbed, and Nellith breathed as slowly and deeply as she could, just wanting to enjoy being alive even if it was for a few seconds. Everything was unsure, a loose point in her world. No one was as they seemed.

"I know what I have to do," Abeloth said. "I tried it only once before, when I tried to create my own family."

"Oh no," Nellith whispered, remembering an Artorian mural.

"If I cannot have my original son and daughter, I will make new ones," Abeloth said as she rose to her feet, surveying the young boy and girl in front of her. Nellith didn't dare look at Tallis.

Before she could protest, or say anything, Abeloth lifted the two again, and started pulling them out into the jungles of Mortis.

* * *

The _Falcon_ touched down in the Imperial hangar bay, Rey and Ben standing right in front of the docking area. Chewbacca walked down the ramp and was bombarded with questions.

"Where's Nellith?"

"Where's Tallis?"

"What happened?"

"Why haven't they come back?"

" **Give me a minute,"** Chewbacca growled. " **She went with him. They went somewhere called Mortis. I did not understand very much about it.** "

"Mortis?" Ben turned to Rey. "I've never heard of it."

Rey blinked, deep in thought. "I believe I have."

"Where?" Ben's gaze was intense on his wife's face.

"I don't know," Rey said, sounding somewhat irritated. "But in the legends they used to tell on Jakku, it was the birthplace of the gods. The Father, the Daughter, the Son. The Balance, the Light, the Dark."

"So they're chasing fairytales with Snoke?" Ben cried.

"The Throne of Balance was supposed to be a fairytale too," Rey said. "But it's very real. We need to rethink this. So much more is going on than any of us understand. I need to search my records."

She pulled a holocron out of her robes. "Search for Mortis."


	6. New Gods

"I've got the coordinates," Rey said, standing up from the meditating position. Legs unsteady, she briefly stumbled into her husband's arms before she stabilized. She looked into his hazel eyes, the eyes her daughter had inherited.

"We're going to find them," Ben promised.

Rey bit her lip. "That's not what I'm afraid of."

"Then tell me," he said, his hands engulfing Rey's smaller, calloused ones.

For a moment, it was the two of them, like in their Force connection. Except they really were face-to-face, and touching. It was just that everyone else faded to black and starlight around them. It reminded Rey of that fateful elevator ride before they killed Snoke. Now they were going to do it again, and do it for good.

"In the visions of the Throne of Balance, they've changed, solidified in shape," Rey said. "It's necessary, somehow, to defeating Snoke. But you'll die in the process."

"I know," he said softly, finally admitting the truth of his dreams. "I've wanted to avoid it for so long. . . But we both know that it's my time."

"And our visions in the Force have never been wrong before," Rey said softly. "Especially about you."

"I know," Ben said. He embraced his wife. "All we can do is make the most of what we've got left."

Rey nodded, keeping silent as to not say what they both knew. They had hardly any time left at all.

* * *

Stray spindly branches and foliage whipped at Tallis and Nellith's faces as Abeloth carried them in the Force towards her mysterious destination. She had been tight-lipped, silent, throughout the entire walk. If anything had changed, it was that Abeloth was walking faster, becoming a storm of a woman, her power leaving trees downed and the flowers she trampled dead in her wake.

Finally, she entered a clearing, and slammed the two of them down on the ground. The Force physically manifested itself as dark, smokelike tentacles holding Tallis and Nellith both to the ground. The end of one of the tentacles stroked Nellith's face, and she flinched. She looked to Tallis, who had the end of the tentacle pinning him to the ground lingering on his face as he screwed his eyes shut, disgusted and wishing to be anywhere else.

Then she looked to where Abeloth was staring, at a font, spiraled and carved with all sorts of symbols that looked arcane, and a pool to its right, glowing with a serene energy.

"The Pool of Wisdom and the Font of Knowledge," Abeloth said. "They made my children invincible. And now, they will make my new son and daughter invincible."

She turned back around, and the tentacles forced the two on their knees, and poked under their chins to force them to look up.

Abeloth's black eyes glimmered with malice as she surveyed the two of them. "My dark son and light daughter. Perfect reincarnations, unlike the two attempts in the past. Which of you will jump at the chance to become a god?"

"I will," Tallis said without hesitation.

"Don't," Nellith said, struggling against the tentacle holding her trapped. "Tallis, no! You and I both know that you're not dark!"

"All my family's ever been is dark," Tallis said. "How could I possibly be light?"

"Your father found redemption and your mother wanted you to be a Jedi," Nellith said. "I remember on Corellia, when you first met us, how badly you wanted to be a Jedi because of her. She wouldn't have wanted you to take this path!"

"You're wasting your time," Abeloth said. "I sense his resolve. And I've learned from your father. I know this boy's heart."

"Listen to me, Tallis, there's more to this than it seems," Nellith said. "Any idiot in the galaxy would know that. Please don't do this. We'll both regret it."

Tallis met her eyes. "I've got nothing left to lose. I have no regrets."

"Very good," Abeloth said, unraveling her tentacle. Tallis shuddered before scrambling to his feet. "Yes, Tallis Palpatine, embrace your destiny."

He approached the Font of Knowledge, then turned to her.

"It's Tallis Shan." Then he grabbed the front, took a sip, and nearly choked, dropping to his knees. A tentacle reached out, setting the font back upright as Tallis fell to the ground, shuddering and shaking violently.

"Tallis!" she cried, her heart reaching out to him.

Even shaking and shuddering, whining softly, he reached his trembling hand out towards her before he went completely still and limp, as if a switch had been flicked off.

"Tallis?" She hated how pathetic her pleading sounded.

He shuddered violently, as if the lights had turned back on, before scrambling to his feet.

"Nellith!"

Before he could run at her, however, Abeloth lifted her into the air with a tentacle.

"That leaves only one child to replace," Abeloth said. "I cannot wait to see my beautiful daughter."

The tentacle hovered over the Pool of Wisdom, before disappearing completely as Nellith fell into it. Her loose dress billowed around her, as did her hair, and she kicked for the surface, and outstretched her hand. Already, she felt her strength fading, her chest tightening—

She felt Tallis's hand clamp onto hers, and he pulled her out. She started shuddering and shaking, but he held her hand as it happened, as her vision went white and her senses turned off completely.

Then she was awake, seeing in the greatest detail possible, she could hear, see, and feel everything—

It was incredibly overwhelming. The wet clothes on her skin felt like knives, and she had to get it off, but couldn't, not here, and even Tallis's touch was too much—

She reached out her hand, wanting the anger to course through her, a choke, or lightning, or something—

But nothing happened. Nellith looked down at her hand, confused.

"You cannot use the dark anymore," Abeloth said. "It is no longer a part of you."

Nellith looked to her hand in horror as she saw every microscopic hair, every crease outlined like a roadmap. She then reached it over her heart, where she felt a sort of cavity. That primal connection to the dark, which often connected her to her father was gone.

Overwhelmed from the new sensory exposure and all that she had lost, Nellith began to cry, rocks lifting around her.

Tallis placed a hand on her shoulder, and she jerked away, not able to take any pleasure from it anymore.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screamed. She trembled, using her arms to shield her face as her scream turned to a whimper. " _Please_. I can't bear it!"


	7. Escape from Mortis

_DON'T TOUCH ME._

Rey heard the echo from across the galaxy as she punched in the coordinates of the _Millennium Falcon_.

"Did you hear that?" Rey asked.

"No," Ben admitted.

"I heard Nellith's voice," Rey said. "It was like an echo in the Force. She was screaming for someone to not touch her."

She felt a flare of anger like a wave of wildfire splashing out. Ben's fingers tightened on the armrests.

"We need to get there now," Ben said. "He's hurting her, I just know it."

He then frowned. "I feel it. . . I feel her. . . Something's been taken from her."

"What?" Rey asked, on the edge of her seat.

"I don't know," Ben admitted. "Something terrible has happened."

Rey slammed in the coordinates and shifted to hyperspace. She checked the estimated time. "Well, we've got three hours to figure it out."

* * *

Tallis hesitated before backing away. He turned to Abeloth, standing up straight.

"Are you happy now?" he demanded. "I can't feel the light anymore! She can't feel the dark! We've lost so much so you can stop your tirades! Will you finally stop?"

"Stop?" Abeloth began to laugh. "When the galaxy can worship us as the new gods?"

"No," Tallis said. "We're no gods."

"I'm surprised," Abeloth said. "The Dark is supposed to be greedy, power-hungry, ambitious. Where is your ambition?"

"My dreams all died when you took me," he said, his eyes turning yellow as he glared at her. "My ambition was to be a Jedi. To save other people. But you wanted me as your emperor, as your new son. You tortured me, and expected me to turn."

"But you did turn," Abeloth said, a smug grin on her face.

"Not for you," Tallis said, his voice quiet. "Never for you."

Nellith looked up, sensing the walls finally breaking down as one pinprick of light emerged, one last shred of resistance against the shadows consuming his soul. And how it shined so brightly against the darkness. Tallis had one light left, that no one could vanquish. And in that moment of seeing what was truly there, she knew what he was going to do.

Black lightning emerged from his hands as red lightning emerged from the dark tentacles in the Force Abeloth wielded. But he was a match for Abeloth.

"Daughter! You must temper the Son!" Abeloth cried, her face twisted in a grimace of fear. "It is your destiny, to keep him from rising against me!"

And the last shadow Nellith had within her rose in her unholy anger. She shook her head serenely, however.

"You don't decide my destiny," Nellith said. "Only the Force does that."

And she let the rocks fly.

Temporarily burned and buried, Tallis turned to Nellith and took her hand.

"We need to run," he said.

* * *

The _Millennium Falcon_ touched down beside the Imperial shuttle. Upon stepping onto the pavilion, Ben immediately sensed his daughter.

"I can see what happened," Ben said, turning to Rey and Chewbacca. "No darkness."

"She's never been truly dark," Rey said, confused.

"But her light has always cast a shadow," Ben said. "One she resisted and tempered. . . But still there. Now it's gone, as if it's been taken. And there's something else. . ."

It was in that moment that Tallis and Nellith burst through the trees. The dark and the light radiated off of them so powerfully, both Ben and Rey nearly fainted from the overwhelming strength of it.

"Mum! Dad!" Nellith cried, hugging them, before she cried out and Rey released her suddenly. Rey tried to reach for her daughter, but Nellith raised her hands in a protective gesture, before backing away.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Rey asked.

"No time," Tallis said. "We need to destroy the ship so Abeloth can't get off this place."

"Can we trust him?" Ben asked Nellith.

"Yes," she said. "We have to. Now, hurry, she won't be deterred for long."

Rey exchanged a glance before the two ignited their lightsabers.

"Get on the ship with Chewie," Rey ordered. "We'll talk on the trip home."

The two young teens nodded as they followed the Wookiee onboard the _Millennium Falcon_. Rey and Ben surveyed the shuttle for only a moment, before making short work of it. Just as they had finished slicing up the engine beyond repair, they heard the yell.

" _MY CHILDREN_!" Abeloth screamed as she exited the clearing. Her mouth had changed, revealing a pointy-toothed grin too long for a human jawline.

"Go! Go!" Ben yelled.

Rey grabbed his arm. "We're leaving together, come on!"

The _Falcon_ hovered above, the landing ramp still open.

Rey and Ben, using the Force to augment their athletic ability, started running up the smoking heap of metal that was once the Imperial shuttle. Abeloth yowled and her tentacles extended, reaching for the man and woman she had once coveted for their power.

The two jumped from atop the heap, their leap longer and more graceful than any ordinary human's as they soared inches above the tentacle and into the loading ramp of the _Falcon_. The ramp closed hastily behind them, and then the ship jumped into hyperspace.

Rey propped herself up on her elbows, panting heavily. She looked to Ben.

"You okay?" she asked.

He sat up. "I'll live."

Rey sat up herself as the two sat there for a moment. Nothing needed to be said. They both knew what the other was thinking. Ben then stood up, and offered his hand to Rey.

"Time to interrogate our daughter's boyfriend," he said. "I never thought this day would come."

A smirk played at the corner of Rey's mouth. "Neither did I."


	8. The Tragedy of Immortality

Nellith first headed into the bedroom within the Falcon and found some old clothes of Rey's that were dry and practical for fighting. She changed into them, and undid her elaborate braids, choosing to comb them out. But she hated how every yank was a thousand time amplified, every texture like a live wire on her skin. It was taking all of her strength not to cry.

How would she eat? How would she be able to sleep? How could she live this way?

"Do you want some help?"

Nellith turned, seeing Rey, and feeling a little ashamed she couldn't sense her approach with her new abilities.

"Come on, let's sit down and talk while Ben interrogates Tallis," Rey said.

"He won't hurt him, will he?" Nellith asked.

Rey blinked. "He betrayed your trust."

"No, he had a plan," Nellith realized. "He was planning what he did from the moment he sent that transmission."

"What plan?" Rey asked.

* * *

Tallis sat next to the dejarik table, with his hands cuffed at Ben's insistence. Ben now paced the floor, trying to think of what to say, what questions to ask.

"Would you like for me to just tell you what happened?" Tallis was amused by Ben's panic. Seeing someone who used to be such a powerful servant of the dark— what was happening to him?

"No. Yes." Ben turned hastily, crossing his arms over his chest. "What happened on Mortis?"

"Abeloth was looking for her children, but they died a long time ago," Tallis said. "I knew she'd want to make us her new children, she did it before when she took Snoke's body. I would be the Dark, and Nellith would be the Light. If we both had godlike powers, I knew we could both take her."

"How'd that work out?" Ben asked sarcastically.

"Not as well as I would've liked," Tallis said, instantly irritated. "But I had no other choice."

"If you'd asked Nellith, she would've figured out a better way out," Ben said. "My daughter's intelligent. And whatever you two did, it took away something that was a part of her."

"And made her immortal and invulnerable," Tallis added.

"Oh Force, you mean she's going to live forever like this?" Panic rose in Ben's voice. "Can't you see that she's suffering?"

Tallis bit his lip to keep himself from doing something stupid. He had to wait, he had to play the game that Nellith would want him to. . . Yet it hammered in his head again and again. He knew she was suffering and it was his fault. Her suffering was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. She was the weakness he never stopped needing.

"I know that," he said. "I never wanted—"

"Do you even know what you want?" Ben asked, his voice dangerously low.

Tallis rose up like the flames of rage in his heart. "Listen, I've told you what happened. We've got bigger problems, like what we're going to do to make sure Abeloth can never hurt her ever again— or anyone!"

That last statement slipped out from that small bit of Light left in him, still protesting what was happening.

Ben's expression faltered with his sympathy. "We'll figure out how to undo this."

* * *

"He saved you," Rey said. "But at the cost of making everything unbearable to you."

"There's still something good left in him," Nellith said. "I miss the Dark Side. The balance. . . It's gone. I want it back, so badly. I feel empty."

Rey's features became sympathetic as she tried to fathom what her child must have been going through.

"It's going to be okay," Rey promised. "We are going to fix this."

Suddenly, Nellith perked her head up.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked.

"Tallis is about to do something really stupid," Nellith said, standing up. "Light has to temper the Dark."

Before Rey could question her further, Nellith raced out of the room as Tallis stood up, and used the Force to completely shatter the cuffs. She placed a hand on Tallis's arm, and he visibly deflated. No words passed between them, for she knew what had happened. She stepped forward.

"Are we returning to Uphatu, Dad?" Nellith asked.

"Yes," Ben said, his eyes lingering on his daughter's unnaturally serene expression. "Are you okay?"

"No," Nellith admitted. "But we've got bigger things to worry about. We need to start planning our attack."

"Talk to Jaina," Ben said. "She's been organizing the Jedi."

"Good," Nellith said. "We've got to end her now. Abeloth's going to escape that planet, it's only a matter of time."

"Good thing we should be just about there," Rey called as she entered the cockpit or the _Millennium Falcon_. That left Ben, Nellith, and Tallis awkwardly staring at each other, none of them knowing quite what to say.


	9. Heart of the Matter

"Come on," Nellith said, beckoning to Tallis. "I want to talk to you. Alone."

Ben narrowed his eyes. "Leave the door open."

"Of course, Dad," Nellith said, with a serene yet solemn nod. She clenched her hands into fists to try and release some of her pain. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands, biting the skin. Of course she noticed. Every sensation was like a live wire. She could only barely stand the clothes over her skin, the sensation of her hair, any of it.

They entered what seemed to have been an old nursery on the ship, and Tallis sat down, Nellith across from him.

"We need to talk," Nellith said. "Lots of things happened on Mortis. . . And I'm not sure I want to defend you yet. I will, no matter what, but I'd rather want to."

Tallis nodded, his expression still stoic.

"What did you mean when you said what you did wasn't for Abeloth, never for her?" Nellith asked. "Who did you do it for?"

His newly red-rimmed yellow eyes shot her a piercing stare. "I thought you knew."

"I'm not sure I do," Nellith said.

"I did it all for you," he said. "I joined for you, so I could save you from the other Jedi—"

"I knew that part," Nellith said hastily.

"And I planned what we just did so it could be all over," Tallis said. "Not just for you, but for everyone. I'm sorry if I hurt you in the process."

"You still have light within you," Nellith realized. "You've never been as selfish as the true darkness."

"I can't let others suffer," Tallis said. "I can keep suffering all the time, that's fine. I can take it. But others shouldn't have to pay for Abeloth and Andromeda's war."

"That's why the war stopped on Corellia," Nellith said. "You did it to save your home planet."

"Yes," he said, nodding emphatically.

"You have a plan now, don't you," Nellith said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Tallis admitted.

"Are you going to tell me?" Nellith asked.

"No," Tallis said simply.

"Why not?" Nellith demanded. "Don't you trust me?"

"You wouldn't like it," Tallis said, running his finger along the grate pattern on the floor.

Nellith bit her lip, deciding to table the discussion, to a more important one on her mind.

"You did it because you loved me," Nellith said. "All of it."

He looked up, the yellow a little faded. "I still do. Love you, I mean."

"Oh," was all Nellith said.

"If you don't love me back, I understand," he said. "I just want you know that it doesn't have any strings attached. You don't owe me your love in return, it has nothing to do with me. I love you for free."

"I love you, too," Nellith said. "Unconditionally."

There was a slight smile on his face. "That's the first time I've heard that in a long time."

"Your mother?" Nellith asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said. He looked down at the grates on the floor. "Is it true, that my father was looking for me?"

"Yes," Nellith said. "He wants to make up all that lost time. He's been devastated, all this time. You two were finally beginning to reconcile, and then the Second Order ruined everything."

"I was too harsh about him before," Tallis admitted. "With the Font of Knowledge. . . I know now so much more. I can see my past now, and not just from my point of view."

Nellith smiled and reached out a hand for his. He accepted it, and now Nellith instantly felt at ease. The rest of her senses had become white noise compared to the serene brilliance in front of her.

"We can do this," Nellith promised. "As long as we work together."

"Together," Tallis said.

"And I want to undo what we've done to ourselves, when this is all over," Nellith said.

"I agree," Tallis said.

"Good," Nellith said.

The two just sat there, for a moment, and then Nellith was elsewhere. It was like in one of her visions of the Throne of Balance. And there were two endings lined out in front of her. The fight with Abeloth was still up in the air, but she realized something at last.

The Throne of Balance was key to all of this. And she was the only one who could wield its power over the Force.

Her eyes opened just as Ben walked into the back to investigate.

"We need to find the Throne of Balance!" Nellith cried, gasping for air. "It's the only way!"

"What?" Ben asked.

Nellith looked over her shoulder. "Dad! The Throne of Balance will change the tide of the war and end it, I know it!"

Ben stiffened. "Rey said that, too."

Nellith got to her feet. "We'll need to consult all the archives we have when we get to Uphatu."

Ben nodded. "Jaina and the rest of the Jedi have been working on that while we've been doing this rescue mission. We're going to end this, I promise."

Nellith hugged her father. "I hope so."


	10. Firebrand

Jaina Solo was standing in the hangar, waiting for them when the _Falcon_ landed on Uphatu. Nellith could sense her aunt's fiery presence in the Force, like a flickering shadow with such brilliant light, Nellith had to squint.

"Everything alright?" Jaina asked with a frown as she approached her niece and apprentice.

Nellith bit her lip and shook her head. "We need to find the Throne of Balance."

"What?" Jaina's pitch raised slightly as she attempted a Solo-esque smirk to reassure Nellith. "What's going on?"

"I can't use the dark side anymore, and Tallis can't use the light," Nellith said. "And we're both immortal now— we think."

"You think?" Jaina tilted her head to the side. "What happened to you on Mortis?"

"We became these kinds of Force Gods, Abeloth's new children," Nellith said. "But I don't know how or why, but a vision showed me that the Throne of Balance will be key to stopping her. We can kill Andromeda Hux, but that only delays everything. She hurt my father when she was Snoke, hidden away and delayed for another day. We can't let her hurt anyone like Tallis or Dad again."

"Wait, Tallis?" Jaina shook her head. "I don't trust that kid— don't tell me he's with you!"

"He's with us," Nellith said, wincing in anticipation of her aunt's reaction. "He's on our side, I promise."

"But you said he's all dark now," Jaina said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Doesn't that automatically make us his enemies?"

"It's complicated," Nellith said, her cheeks turning pink.

"Humor me," Jaina said.

"There's still light in him, I can sense it," Nellith said. "And he's acting out of selflessness, not vanity or any of that."

"I'm not sure I can believe that," Jaina admitted.

"When have I ever steered you wrong?" Nellith asked.

"Bringing him to Yavin IV, which brought Abeloth back in the first place," Jaina reminded her.

"Trust me," Nellith insisted. "He's got a plan—"

"And did he tell you what it was?" Jaina asked.

"No," Nellith admitted.

"You're smarter than this," Jaina said. "What did he really say that convinced you?"

Nellith's cheeks flushed red as she looked down to her hands, still clenched into tightly-wound fists.

"He told me he'd done it all for me," Nellith said. "And that he'd do it all still even if I never loved him back. Because the way he loves me isn't selfish or vindictive."

Jaina blinked, surprised. "It reminds me of something Dad used to say about love. 'I love you with no strings attached. I love you for free.'"

Nellith tilted her head slightly. "Han Solo said that?"

Jaina smiled as she remembered her father fondly. "He could be profound sometimes. Sometimes what he said was as stupid as his plans. But he at least made things sound right. He said he'd learned that little saying on Corellia, about some woman he loved long before Mom."

"He sounds like he was a cool dad," Nellith said.

"Our dad was pretty cool," Ben said regretfully as he approached Jaina and Nellith. He was staring at his twin sister in particular. "I didn't know for so long that he didn't know about Snoke when Mom did, that he didn't know about Luke, or any of it. I thought he had, and he was fine with it."

"That's why," Rey said as she approached. "I'd suspected from what Leia told me— but you never told me the reason why you killed your own father."

"I understand it now," Jaina said. "And that's why you hated me. Because you thought I knew about those things too."

"Leia kept secrets from all of us," Ben said. "She was a good mother, but sometimes her secrets hurt all of us."

"We don't have time for this," Tallis said impatiently. "We need to start looking for evidence of the Throne of Balance."

The adults turned to glare at the boy. Nellith simply touched her fingertips to his arm, and he had the decency to look ashamed. He fiddled with the knot on his scarf, finding it to be more interesting than the healing taking place.

"Come on," Nellith said. "We'll start looking while they take a little break."

He allowed her to lead her away to one of the many rooms within the Imperial Palace, to do research, and perhaps some other activities.


	11. Smoke and Fire

The library of holocrons and Jedi tomes were empty. Left basking in the cool blue glow of the room, Nellith fiddled with the holocron necklace hidden beneath her shirt. She'd briefly gone to her room to retrieve it. It acted as a sort of protection, in some ways, from her new awakening to the Force. Her two lightsabers hung on her belt: the one she built, and the one Jaina gave her that belonged to Luke Skywalker. In a special pouch, her grandfather's DL-44 waited for a fight.

Wearing these relics made her feel safe, and ready for going up against Abeloth. She glanced at Tallis.

"We can do a database search," she said. "You know how to do that?"

Tallis frowned and shook his head. "I'm good with mechanics, not computers."

Nellith nodded, and approached the central control monitor. "Mum and Dad hooked up all of their data and holocrons into a computer, with general information and keywords as to what's in them. If looking specifically for the throne doesn't work, we'll look up myths and legends."

"In that case, we manually go through them," Tallis realized. "You're a genius."

"About time you realized that," Nellith teased as she entered in each command, careful and deliberate in her word choices. "Alright, entered it in. Now we wait for the commands to sift through."

"How long will that take?" Tallis asked, tapping his fingers against the table.

"Only a few minutes," Nellith said. She glanced back at him. "You're jumpy. Everything alright?"

He bit his lip. "I want to make this right. As soon as possible."

"You already have," Nellith assured him. "You're here, aren't you?"

"That's true." His words were hesitant and deliberate, yet short and clipped.

"What are you planning to do, that you said I wouldn't like?" Nellith asked, turning around completely to face him. "Just spit it out, Tallis."

He shook his head. "You really won't like the outcome."

"Are you going to betray us?" Nellith asked.

"No," Tallis said. "Not that."

Nellith frowned, sensing honesty.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked.

Nellith frowned, considering Jaina's words earlier.

"I'd never hurt you," he promised, reaching out for her face before retracting his hand in a spasm of shyness. "You know that."

"I do," Nellith admitted. "But I know my visions. And they end the same way, every time. My parents die at your hands."

With a well-timed look into his eyes, she knew she had latched onto something.

"You think it's somehow necessary to kill Abeloth," Nellith realized in horror.

He opened his mouth to protest, before deciding against it. He looked at his boots, and Nellith knew. It took all her strength to control herself.

"You're right, I don't like that," she said icily. "Pick a different plan!"

"The visions have been the same for a little over a month!" Tallis cried, throwing his hands into the air. He then planted them on his hips. "Haven't you realized? We've got a destiny, and it's already been decided for us!"

"I control my destiny!" Nellith cried, jabbing a finger at her heart. "I don't like the vision, so I'll change it! I don't like the plan— so change it!"

"You don't even know the specifics!" Tallis cried.

"I know there's a result I don't want!" Nellith shouted. "I don't want my first boyfriend to kill my parents! Do you have any idea how awful that is?"

"Yeah, I know that!" Tallis shouted back. "But it's worse to have Abeloth and the Second Order ruling over the galaxy!"

"Why don't we sit down and figure out a plan that doesn't involve killing my parents?" Nellith screamed.

Tallis flinched, as if she had hit him. Nellith stumbled backwards by the sheer force of her scream.

"I didn't mean to scream it," Nellith said, her voice a little hoarse. "I'm sorry. Let's sit down and talk about this."

"No, no," he mumbled to himself as he ran a hand through his hair. "I've got another idea."

"Are you sure you don't want to—"

"Do you trust me?" His newly yellowed-eyes pleaded with her.

Nellith hesitated, but even after that shouting match, she still knew the answer had not changed. "Of course."

He placed his hands around hers, looking at her for approval. She glanced down, revealing that if she was betrayed, or lied to, she would never forgive him. She looked to the monitor, desperate to return to the situation at hand, to distract herself from whatever was going on.

"Oh, look, we found a location," she said.

"Where?" He let go of her hands, and started tapping on the table again.

"There's no specifics," Nellith admitted. "But there's a Light Nexus on Jakku, where Palpatine built his Observatory. And legend has it the planet was green before some event happened. Some scholar suspects that something powerful is on Jakku."

"Artorias could be another one," Tallis said. "Their people know more about these myths."

"We could call Miri quickly, see what she knows," Nellith said.

"Do it," Tallis said. "We don't have much time."

Nellith punched in the commands for the computer, and the screen instantly showed the inside of Miri's room. The moonlight shined through the renovated Rainbow Palace, throwing strange refractions of light all around. The queen sat up, half-asleep.

"Nellith? How did you kriffing get into this kriffing network?" Miri asked as she untangled herself from her sheets.

"I didn't realize it was the night cycle for Artorias," Nellith said. "I'll just let you go—"

"No, I'm up now, so you'd better tell me what in the nine hells you woke me up for, or I will go to Uphatu myself and personally break your arm," Miri said. "Spill."

Nellith and Tallis quickly informed her to the situation and how the Throne of Balance might possibly be located on Jakku.

"That's likely," Miri said, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know my mythos the best, and no one knows where the Throne of Balance is, but if it wasn't on Mortis, Jakku would be the best bet."

"Thanks, Miri," Nellith said, reluctant to end the conversation. "I should let you know, this might be the last time you see us."

Miri snorted. "I doubt it. Skywalkers are like cockroaches: you'll always come crawling back, no matter who wants you dead. Take care, Nellith."

"You too," Nellith said, reaching out to touch the screen. She would always wonder about the possibilities between her and the queen, even now that she was with Tallis. She might have even come to love her at some point. But she was content to be her friend, even now, and to have found love elsewhere.

But the possibilities would always linger in the way summer on Aquilae did.

The transmission ended, and Nellith looked to Tallis. "We've got to get to Jakku."


	12. Contemplation

"It's on Jakku?" Rey cried.

"Why doesn't this surprise me?" Ben asked. "Everything is on that sandy hellhole."

"Hey, I came from Jakku," Rey said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I am aware," he said.

"I'll get the other Jedi ready," Jaina said. "We'll meet you at Palpatine's Observatory. You guys are certain it will be there?"

"As certain as we can be about a big mythical throne that's supposed to decide the fate of the Force," Nellith deadpanmed.

Jaina shrugged. "Fair enough."

"May the Force be with you, Aunt Jaina," Nellith said as her aunt began to walk away.

Jaina turned around, walking backwards, and grinned, saluting her niece. "And also with you!"

Nellith smiled after her aunt, hoping she would at least survive whatever was about to go down on Jakku.

She turned back to Tallis, Ben, Rey, and Chewbacca.

"We'd better get moving before Abeloth hitches a ride, or figures out where the Throne of Balance is," Nellith said.

Tallis nodded solemnly.

The journey passed much more quickly than it had before. Nellith kept wrapping the chain of her holocron necklace around her fingers so tightly that it striped them red and white.

Rey glanced at her daughter, before gently prying the necklace out of her fingers.

"Please don't hurt yourself," she said.

"Sorry," Nellith said. "I'm just nervous."

Rey gave her daughter a sympathetic look before embracing her. "We're coming out of this, together or not at all."

"I know that," Nellith said. "I don't want you or Dad to die."

Ben and Rey exchanged a glance, thinking of the conversation they had held before Mortis.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked. "That's oddly specific."

"The visions," Nellith managed, trying not to completely lie to them. She didn't want them to distrust Tallis more than they already did with the possible plan.

Rey frowned. "Of course. I should've realized—"

"It's fine," Nellith said. "I know it's still up to us. All of it is."

"We won't leave you until there's no other choice," Rey said. "I promise."

Nellith nodded shakily, and Ben looked over at the scanner as they leapt out of hyperspace.

"There's already a lot of Second Order ships near the observatory," Ben said. "We need a stealthier approach."

Rey cursed and stood up to get a better look. "I know where we are! Niima Outpost is right there! And my home would still be here."

"We'll hide out there, and then sneak into the observatory," Ben realized. "Brilliant."

"You should call me that more often," Rey said, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Flirt later, survive now," Nellith said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry," Rey murmured unapologetically as she and Chewbacca maneuvered the controls of the _Millennium Falcon_.

* * *

The _Falcon_ landed outside the _Hellhound Two,_ the downed AT-AT Rey used to live in. Still as abandoned as it had been the day Rey and Finn had stolen the _Millennium Falcon_ and left Jakku, it was the perfect place to wait for the other Jedi to come. The crew exited and sat atop the _Hellhound Two_ , to wait and contemplate.

The sun was setting on the dunes in front of them. Nellith pulled her knees up to her chest, Tallis right by her side. His legs were outstretched, lazy almost, as if this was some casual nightfall, not the possible end of all times.

Rey sat on Nellith's right, her knees dangling over the side as she gave little cheerful, unconscious kicks. Ben had his arm around Rey's shoulder, and his legs dangled limply and awkwardly over the side. Rey's head was on his shoulder, and she looked to be at complete peace.

Nellith glanced at Tallis. His expression was troubled as he stared at the horizon. She wondered what he was feeling and thinking. He always kept secrets, always kept something beneath the surface. Now, claimed by the Dark Side, he seemed further away than ever. She wondered if they would always be this alone, or if this godhood could be reversed.

She hoped so. When the next morning came, she would take whatever problems came, but when all was said and done she wanted everyone to live, and for her and Tallis to live side-by-side, in peace.

Peace would be nice. Even on Aquilae, Nellith had never known peace. There were secrets and lies even then, and there was Kiernan Solsaur planting those fears others held of what kind of Skywalker she would become.

Living without conflict, just for a little while, sounded like heavenly bliss.

Nellith hated that she couldn't even just enjoy right now for fear of what was to come. Her mind was a tangle of thoughts, and while her senses had adjusted, it was still uncomfortable, and she preferred being merely human.

Then she felt the presence of the remaining loyal Jedi Knights entering the atmosphere of Jakku. Nellith stood up and turned just in time to see them enter the blue sky, touching down close by.

"It's time," Nellith announced.


	13. The Scavenger's Kingdom

"Alright," Nellith said. "We've probably got one shot at this, so we're going to draw out the plan in the dirt so everyone can see and understand."

Rey handed her daughter her old quarterstaff, and Nellith accepted it, and drew the Observatory.

"Abeloth and all of the Second Order troopers with lightsabers and Acolytes of the Beyond are stationed here, here, and here," Nellith said. "We don't know exactly where the Throne of Balance, so we'll be holding them off indefinitely. Basically, we want to find it as soon as we can. And if anyone can stab Abeloth and keep her dead, that would be appreciated."

She used the end of her quarterstaff to point at a group of Jedi.

"Rowley, your group can go and secure the left perimeter, Terrik, I need your group to secure the right perimeter," Nellith said. "Distract them by fighting them so we can get through to the inside the observatory."

"Got it," Rowley said.

"We can hold them," Terrik promised.

"Thank you," Nellith said. She looked to the rest, a group in the center, mentally continuing to divvy them up. "Alright, so the rest of you are going into the observatory. Keep in touch with one another, though, on your commlinks."

She held hers up. "I will be accessible on channel 5. If one of us calls to another, answer that and abandon your post. I'd prefer it if we can all get out of this alive, so we need to help one another. If any of you sees a throne, scream for me on the commlink, and get your position out as fast as you can. Understood?"

Nods were all around, and Nellith surveyed them as she searched for the right words to say.

"I've known a great deal of you all my life," Nellith said, her voice soft at first. "I've grown up in this new generation of Jedi. We are the New Jedi Order. You're my family, just as much as my mother and father are. We're all a family, and we've made a good run of it. We just need to hold through the night, and surely when the morning comes, we'll have claimed a day that will never set for the New Republic. Or something like that."

There were a few awkward laughs.

"Thank you," Nellith said, her voice soft again, and sincere. "I pray to the Force that this isn't the end."

She turned to hand the staff back to her mother and kicked the sand back over their plan, making it lost forever. When she looked up, every Jedi had their lightsaber raised in the air as a salute to her.

 _Just like my vision_ , she thought, chills running through her body. She couldn't let these people down. She had to make it all right.

She glanced to Tallis.

"We're looking for the Throne of Balance," she said. "But if we come across Abeloth—"

"We kill her body so we can buy time," he finished.

"We will be going after Abeloth," Ben reminded them. "You're both to find the Throne of Balance, and leave her to us. We've killed her before, we can do it again."

"Right," Nellith said reluctantly.

* * *

Surrounded by plenty of Jedi, with Tallis essentially as her personal bodyguard, Nellith was invisible in the crowd. She slipped her hand into Tallis's as they approached on the observatory. She knew they could see them coming— a bunch of brown cloaks in a golden desert stood out, especially when there were only dunes for miles.

These people were willing to die for her. Did they know she was willing to do the same? Or did they just do this for her parents?

Rey and Ben looked imposing, all affection absent at first glance. Yet Nellith could sense the great love they held for each other, the Jedi, and her.

She couldn't let them down either.

Then the Jedi charged, igniting their lightsabers in a synchronized meld. Nellith and Tallis let go of each other's hand so they could light up their lightsabers. It was the first time Nellith would dual-wield, but she knew she could do it— Jaina had trained her well.

The Jedi split into their paths, and Nellith and Tallis followed a group into the observatory. They were met with too many Second Order troopers and Acolytes, and Nellith barely remembered in the blur of action, running up the stairs into the passageways of the top level. She sensed pure power somewhere, and wondered if the Throne of Balance had already been uncovered.

As she and Tallis wandered further away from the fiery fight, the colder it felt in the room, and the more conspicuous the absence of Ben and Rey was. Then she felt it. The pure power of Abeloth— but it was faltering and shaking, threatening to shatter.

As Tallis and Nellith approached the red-haired figure on the balcony, they were surprised to see her gripping the railing and visibly shaking, too distressed to notice two deified teenagers with lightsabers approaching.

Nellith raised her two lightsabers, framing Abeloth's neck. When the woman turned around, her blue eyes revealed a frightened and struggling Andromeda.

"I always hated you," she muttered. "What your family did to Snoke. To the First Order. Now I understand why Snoke had to die. . . I don't want her inside me anymore. You have to do it."

Tallis looked to Nellith, confused, but her hazel eyes locked onto Andromeda's. "You want me to kill you."

"And hurry, before she comes back and stops you," Andromeda said. "The Throne of Balance will kill her spirit, I saw it— it only takes the command from the Jed Queen. You need to do it as fast as you can, before she ruins someone else's life."

"I'm sorry, Andromeda," Nellith said. Then she thrust her violet lightsaber into Andromeda's heart. Her expression was frozen as she dropped down to the floor, slipping down the railing.

All Nellith could hear was her own heart pounding. She didn't hear the screams emitting from her commlink or Tallis's, or Tallis fumbling for his on his belt. She could only see Andromeda's lifeless blue eyes, reminding her that her long-time enemy was human. And she meant well in the end.

Tallis tugged on her sleeve, then gently turned her around to face him. She could barely make out his words, they seemed so far away.

"We need to go," Tallis said. "Your mom found it."

"What?" Nellith shook her head slightly, comprehending nothing.

"Rey found the Throne of Balance, and she's in trouble," he said.

Nellith snapped out of her haze, and turned to the desert outlooking the Observatory. A ray of light that had not been visible from the atmosphere was only ten meters away, and Rey and Ben were there, surrounded by Acolytes of the Beyond.

"Oh no," she whispered, an inkling of the future creeping into her bones.


	14. The Jedi Queen

She clipped her deactivated lightsabers on her belt and reached out for Tallis's hand, and without speaking, he understood what she wanted him to do. He clipped his lightsaber and commlink on his belt, and accepted. Then, accentuating with their new Force powers, they jumped.

With the Force, they were soaring over the battle, over meters of desert, and landed in the sand perfectly. For the first time, Nellith was seeing an upside to her new godlike powers. Upon landing, she let go of Tallis's hand, and the two lightsabers flew off the belt and into her hands, turning on without her even touching the buttons.

She and Tallis cut through Acolytes of the Beyond to get to Ben and Rey, who fought with the grace and synchronization of a ballroom waltz.

Nellith was so focused on saving her parents, she didn't notice that an Acolyte had gotten behind her until Tallis used the back side of his saber-staff to stab the Acolyte through her helmet.

Nellith turned for a second to briefly leap out of the Acolyte's way before slicing through another just as he clashed blades with Rey.

"Nice one," Rey said, looking around for more Acolytes rushing out, still locked in combat. "Get on that damn throne right now, end this!"

Nellith nodded, and she ran onto the throne from her dreams. And everything changed.

She turned around, hesitating for one second. As she tossed her dark blonde hair over her shoulder, she saw just in time Abeloth's spirit enter Tallis.

"No!" Nellith screamed.

Rey said nothing, staring her former apprentice down.

"This is your last chance," Rey said.

Tallis slowly looked up, eyes red and full of hatred, with no whites to them, with a smile that was too long and too sharp for a human. Nellith could see Abeloth's tentacles in the Force reaching out towards her—only to seize her, inches from her throne,

It was a fight between two ancient powers coexisting in one body, and a woman who had always been the source of her own. They were masters, and Nellith, paralyzed by the tentacle, could only watch.

From Tallis's hands, lightning spewed, and Rey blocked it with the two blades of her saber-staff as the sand solidified and rose beneath them, levitating them in the air in a slow revolution. The energy coursed through the dual blades on the staff, as Rey managed to push Tallis with the Force into the mound of solidified sand in midair.

Ben turned to see Nellith floating in midair, trapped by the tentacle and struggling against it.

"Hold on!" he shouted. "I'm coming, Nellith!"

As he extended his hand out, Nellith could feel his presence in the Force, that tidal wave, reaching over her head, beautiful and familiar. It barraged against the tentacle, and Nellith was focusing on building up the light within her, to make an explosion.

She looked up to the sky to see as Rey let out a yell similar to the scream Nellith had unleashed on Yavin IV. Tallis fell to the mound, and the mounds froze, no longer spinning. For a moment, he looked dead.

That was when Nellith unleashed her light. All at once, Nellith was blinded, floating in the air. When she opened her eyes, she gracefully descended to the ground. The two mounds of solid, packed sand dropped, and Rey rose to her feet, holding her saber-staff like her trusty quarter-staff. The second the tip of Nellith's boot touched the ground, however, Tallis jolted awake, and scrambled to his feet— and it was clear that Abeloth was still in control.

"Run!" Rey yelled.

Nellith didn't hesitate. She could feel the dark tentacles' presence as they reached for her— so she ran, right to the Throne of Balance. Just as she turned to sit, she saw the lightning emanating from Tallis's hands. Rey dug her heels in as the lightsaber began to rock and vibrate violently in her hands. She screamed as the lightsaber split into several pieces, and she went flying several feet across the dunes.

"Mum!" Nellith screamed.

"I'll help her!" Ben promised. "You need to end this, Nellith— it'll be alright, I promise!"

Nellith somehow found it in her to nod, and did the easiest thing she could do. She took her throne at long last.

The effect was instant. Time stopped, and she observed the frozen scene, realizing all she could do right then and there. She could fix everything. A smile extended on her face, of long-awaited relief.

"Take away the influence of the Font and the Pool," Nellith ordered. Immediately, she felt the difference. In the short time she had briefly been a deity, she had forgotten that she could be comfortable in her own skin. The texture of her clothes was soothing and light again, but not something that drew her attention constantly.

"Please, save Mum," Nellith said. "Don't let her die, not now. Now is not her time."

There wasn't a perceptible shift this time. Nothing told Nellith if her command had been accepted— but she was confident it was, nonetheless. She was the Jedi Queen, and she knew for so long her responsibility. The Throne would not fail her now. Not after all the sleepless nights, not after everything.

"Make the balance towards the light," Nellith said. "We need a lot more light in a galaxy like this."

One last command lingered on her lips.

"Kill Abeloth," she finally said. It wasn't the kind of person she had ever wanted to be— but hopefully this was the last of all the killing. This would be it.

The world resumed in full speed. Nellith rose to her feet as Tallis stumbled forward, before slumping into the sand anticlimactically. Nellith ran to him, and shook his shoulder. But he wouldn't wake. She turned him over, and was relieved to at least see his chest rise and fall.

Hopefully he would wake someday. That was all she wanted. And as she looked up, she saw the tide of the battle had turned completely. The Jedi were stronger, now that the Force was more strongly aligned towards the light.

Then she looked over her shoulder to see Ben pick up Rey the way he did on the day they met. Unconscious, with singed marks on her hands, Nellith knew the encounter had left scars. But most likely, Rey would recover, just like Tallis.

Nellith couldn't help it as she smiled, looking to the setting sun on Jakku. "It's over."

Ben got to his knees beside his daughter, still cradling his wife in his arms. The ground rumbled once, and Nellith looked around.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Ben admitted.

Then she saw it, little sprouts of grass and other plants shooting out of the sand, right in-between her fingers, and under her feet. Nellith scrambled to her feet, watching as plants grew, starting with grass and slowly melding into bushes, trees, and so much more. Clouds formed instantly in the sky, and rain fell down on the former desert, creating roaring rivers and leaving new creatures and new life in its wake.

"It's true," Nellith murmured. "All of it."

"I know."

Nellith looked to see her mother's fluttering eyelids under the rain. Ben set her down on the grass, and she slowly sat up, taking in the rain and the grass. She looked up to the sky. Then a childlike look of wonder dawned on her face.

"So this is what Jakku looked like," Rey said. "Things would be so different if it had been like this when Keera and Skylar left me here."

"It would've been easier," Ben said.

"Probably," Rey admitted. "But we don't know. The planet feels different. No longer cold, and like death. It's warm, bright. I almost can't describe it."

"You don't have to," Ben assured her as he wrapped an arm around her. "We're here, seeing it now. That's all that matters."


	15. Blood of Han

Inside the medical center of the Imperial Palace, Tallis lay in one of the medical beds, still in a coma. Already, the lack of Abeloth and the stress she brought had caused some of Tallis's hair to naturally grow in dark again.

Princess Nellith Solo stood over the pod, her fingers hovering inches from the duroglass.

"No one else knows he's alive?" Nellith asked.

"No one who isn't loyal to you," Ben said.

"I'm not sure we should hide this," Rey admitted as she folded her arms over her chest. "Anyone reasonable in the galaxy would understand that he's not the one to blame for anything that happened. In fact, he technically ended the war."

"Technically," Nellith agreed. "I don't know whether to announce it or not. But I still can't help but worry. . ."

"Those crimes are on Andromeda's head, and she's dead," Rey said.

"But how much of it actually was her?" Nellith asked. "She was different, at the end. She knew she was wrong, about everything. About avenging Snoke, about waging the war."

"She still would have had to answer for what she started," Ben said. "He wouldn't. He's always been on our side."

"On my side," Nellith murmured. The distinction made all the difference. She thought a moment. "Do they have any idea when he'll wake up?"

"We don't even know if he'll wake up," Rey said. "But we'll hold onto him for as long as we can. What you did— we can't completely understand. The Throne of Balance is beyond everyone's understanding. We don't know what you did."

"I'm not even sure of what I did to him," Nellith admitted.

"Well, all we can do is wait," Rey said, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Believe me, I know how hard that can be."

"Does it ever get easier?" Nellith asked.

"Yes," Rey said. "You learn how to be patience, how to fill your time and your mind as you wait. And you have all you need."

Nellith smiled weakly.

* * *

Nellith walked into the winter woods. Bundled up nicely, with two lightsabers and a blaster on her belt, everything felt right with the world. Well, almost everything. She could sense the draw of the ice cave— along with the presence of her aunt. Like a flaring firebrand, she reached out to Nellith.

"I'm coming," Nellith murmured aloud.

She hopped over a rockside, recognizing the dents from the Millennium Falcon's untimely crash on Uphatu on the fateful day that had started the whole war. It had been so long since she had been here. She was so different now from what she had been then.

She continued onwards into the ice caves. She heard the whispers of reverence drift from the walls. The dead recognized the Jedi Queen, and her command. In the center of the cave, Jaina Solo sat cross-legged, staring at the image of her father on the wall.

"I'm sorry, Dad, I wasn't there to save you that day," Jaina said, tears trickling down her face. "If I hadn't run from my destiny, hadn't been like Luke—"

"I wanted you to run, sweetheart," Han said. "I did what I did that day because I loved Ben. It was my choice to make. You have to understand that I understood what I was doing. Nothing that happened that day was your fault."

Nellith stood paralyzed by the image of her legendary grandfather. She'd heard about his exploits, held his old blaster, and had driven his old ship. Chewbacca was his best friend— hence why he stuck around the Solos after his death.

Now he was standing in the glass. He looked much younger than he must've when he died. He appeared like he did in the holos of the Rebellion, like he'd just been taken out of carbonite.

"I miss you so much, Dad," Jaina said, as she swiped her tears off her face. "I still don't understand what you did, but I can understand the facts, I guess."

"It's a fatherly thing," Han said, a smile so much like Jaina's on his mouth. "I get it, you'll never have kids— and that's not a bad thing, sweetheart. If you don't want little Jedi brats, don't get them. Trust me, they're a handful."

"I suppose we were," Jaina said, laughing slightly. Her expression crystallized into something more serious. "Do you regret—"

"Having you kids?" Han's eyebrows rose, his face incredulous. "Never. Nothing happened that didn't make it the proudest day of my life. Not even Ben stabbing me could do that. You're still my kids. I can't explain it, Jaina. And maybe it's one of those things I'll never be able to teach you. But Ben knows it. Doesn't he, Nellith?"

Jaina looked over her shoulder, sending her long curtain of brown hair flying over her shoulder.

"How long have you been listening?" she asked.

"Only for a little bit," Nellith admitted. "I felt your presence in the woods, and I knew you were sad. So I wondered if you wanted company.."

Jaina smiled. "Sorry about that. I figured, if we could talk to ghosts here, I thought I might as well work some things out."

"I heard," Nellith said awkwardly. She kicked some snow. "I know everything that happened, all before I was born, it left everything in a mess."

"It did," Jaina said, patting the snow beside her. "I'd ask your father for the full story— he's the only one who can truly tell you all of it."

"I wish I'd known what was happening with Ben earlier," Han said from the ice. "I wish I could've gotten away from all the Jedi stuff. It wasn't hokey, but it wasn't any good for the kid either. I knew that from the start, but Leia insisted, and Jaina, you had been ready for so long. . ."

"I think we all failed each other," Jaina admitted.

"We did," Han said, pausing after those words. He looked to his granddaughter. "Nellith— hells, that's a mouthful. Can't say that every time. Will Nell do?"

"Absolutely," Nellith said.

"Damn Ben, he always hated having a short name," Han said. "Of course he had to make it complicated. I'm proud to have you as a granddaughter, and as the pilot to the _Falcon_. She deserves someone who cares about her. I only wish I'd actually gotten to know you, and not through all this hokey Force stuff."

"Me too," Nellith said.

"I see you got my blaster, too," Han said. "Did I ever tell either of you the story behind it?"

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Only every night at bedtime."

"Because you and Ben requested it," Han said with a laugh.

"I haven't heard it," Nellith said softly.

Han grinned. "It starts when I was a boy on Corellia. . ."


	16. A Moment Underwater

She waited in the dressing room for a servant to bring the new dress and accessories fashioned for the occasion. Already, she could hear faintly the musicians practicing for the ball that would start in exactly an hour.

It was the Victory Ball, an event Kaydel was throwing to distract from the fallout and celebrate the triumph. There were still questions that lingered in the thunder dome of politics. The _Suncrusher_ was still in the hands of the New Republic, and there was the details of the Force that was nearly incomprehensible to the majority of the non-Force-sensitive members of the galaxy.

But this was a moment to breathe. To mourn those lost and drink to winning what they had died for.

It was now, alone in the room and waiting in her nightdress, that Nellith Solo finally realized how many people had died on her behalf during the war. She knew no numbers, but she didn't need to. Sometimes she could hear the echoes of their dying screams in her head, or see their faces. The weight of it was enough that sometimes she woke up screaming, even though she had nothing to fear anymore.

Ben understood when she told him about those dreams. He was willing to stay with his daughter all night, just to talk about it, or even sit in the silence, watching the stars because they both hated what they would see when they closed their eyes.

In some ways, it wasn't her fault. In most ways, in the eyes of most people, Nellith wasn't to blame for anything in this war— except ending it. That was all the people of the galaxy truly knew and understood. They didn't know about Yavin, about Mortis, and barely understood the Jedi Civil War.

She'd made some things worse, but she'd kept trying to make it better. Even though the war was over, she knew that the trying wasn't done. For the ordinary people in the galaxy, it was all over and that was it. But there was still repairing Artorias, and making sure nothing like all this could happen again.

But that's not a tonight problem, she reminded herself. Tonight is about fun.

It had been such a long time since she had had pure fun. She took a deep breath as she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Nellith said.

A servant in the old palace on Coruscant set the garment bag on the rack, and Rey entered the room as the servant left. Rey was dressed in a long, shimmering green garment, with her hair half-up and half-down. She smiled at her daughter.

"You really should look at the dress," Rey said. "I think you'll look lovely in it."

"Thanks."

Rey paused as she shut the door. "What's wrong?"

Nellith shrugged. "I guess I just don't feel like I'm in a party mood."

"I completely understand," Rey said. "You've had a rough time of it, lately. Anyone else in your position would be feeling down, too. You're still a child, even if you're some mythical queen."

"I just wish so much that none of this had happened," Nellith admitted. "I just wonder if I hadn't been born. . ."

"Put that thought out of your head," Rey said sternly. "Nellith Solo, you were wanted and you are loved. That is what matters."

Nellith nodded.

"Come on, let's open this dress up," Rey said. She unzipped the garment bag, revealing a gauzy pale blue dress with a cape attached to the back and long gauzy sleeves that draped.

Nellith gasped. "It's beautiful."

"And made just for you," Rey said. "You ought to thank Amilyn when you see her out there. She's the one who designed it."

"Amilyn is talented," Nellith murmured.

"Come on," Rey said. "Let's get you dressed."

* * *

The ball was much more boring than the one on Artorias. Mostly, it was bunch of important generals and soldiers and politicians hanging about, drinking champagne and spewing niceties. Hardly any dancing took place, and the music certainly didn't help matters there.

Nellith stood out on the balcony, watching the fireworks. That was when she sensed three of her friends approaching. She turned to see Sam, Amilyn, and Miri all dressed in their own beautiful clothing, grins on their faces.

"Good to see that you're okay after the whole thing with the other Jedi," Sam said.

"Thanks for busting me out of prison that one time," Nellith said, her grin widening.

"It was nothing," Amilyn said. "You look just as lovely as I thought you would."

"Thank you," Nellith said.

"To be fair, breaking you out of prison wasn't just nothing," Miri said, flipping her golden red hair. "But we'd still do it for you. I heard that you were the one who negotiated with Tallis and Andromeda to get an armistice in the first place."

"Sort of," Nellith said. "It wasn't that clean-cut. Abeloth still had to be defeated, even when the war ended."

"Rumor has it that you're like, Queen of the Force now," Amilyn said excitedly. "Is it true?"

"I believe so," Nellith said.

"Believe so?" Sam tilted his head, confused.

"Not everything is clear with the Force," Miri said, a wise twinkle in her eye. "My people have many stories about that."

"You should tell us some," Amilyn said, giving Miri a flirtatious look.

"Perhaps I should," Miri said, her eyes lingering on Amilyn's face. The expression reminded Nellith rather painfully of Tallis.

"You okay?" Sam asked, spotting the falter in Nellith's expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nellith said, shaking her head over so slightly. "I'd love to hear your stories, Miri."

So the friends talked late into the night, enjoying the fireworks and finally forgetting the war.


	17. The Hardest Part

Jaina sat down cross-legged across from her apprentice.

"It's important to still have ritual meditations," Jaina said. "At least you aren't dreaming about the Throne anymore."

"That's true," Nellith admitted. "But I feel like I'm more connected now, to the entire galaxy. And I think sometimes I'm dreaming of problems that are occurring everywhere."

"And some of those dreams might be trauma, or just dreams," Jaina said. "Not everything a Jedi does is in pursuit of the Force and Balance. We have lives. That's important, too. Hence why we have a full Jedi Order."

"So there isn't one Jedi being forced to carry all of the burdens," Nellith said. "I know that— but that's never been true for Skywalkers."

Jaina shrugged. "Learning to balance it all out takes time, kid."

"I hope I'll get it someday," Nellith said.

"Rey and Ben learned to," Jaina said. "And Ben took most of his life figuring it out. It was probably when you were born that he had it completely figured out. So take your time. You've got a long life ahead of you, and nothing has to happen yet. All the danger— it's over for now."

Nellith smiled weakly. "I'll admit, that is good to hear."

Jaina reached out to touch her niece's shoulder. "Come on, let's get this meditation over with so we can do something fun, like lightsaber fighting."

Nellith laughed, and closed her eyes. Mentally, she reached out, sensing all the usual things— except the world was at peace, like it was on Aquilae during her childhood. Excluding the vision that had begun everything, of course.

But she felt one presence flare up, like the sun had suddenly wakened after being swallowed by the _Sunrcrusher_. Her eyes flew open, and she scrambled to her feet. Jaina opened her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Jaina asked.

"Tallis," Nellith said breathlessly. "He's awake."

Then she bolted out of the room, never having run so fast in her life. She ran through the sleek black hallways, dodging storm troopers and officers in teal and gray and black, shouting hurried apologies as she exited the main palace. The snow barely crunched under her boots, she moved so quickly and so fast. She didn't care about the wind biting at her face, or the shocked people around her, or Jaina struggling to follow her several paces back.

All she cared about was the exhilaration, of knowing that the last loose piece was fitting into the puzzle, that at last everything was perfect.

She ran through the medcenter, slowing to a stop when she came across the doorway to his private room. She keyed in the passcode, and lingered in the doorway just as his eyes flew open.

Immediately, Tallis pressed his palms to the glass, pounding against it in a wild panic. She could sense fear, confusion, and a sense of dread that lingered from that final confrontation.

She ran to his side, and pressed the button to cause the top to retreat. Gasping for breath, Tallis sat up, each breath shaking his body. Nellith placed a hand gently on his shoulder, and he reached for her hand, grasping it as it she would disappear any second. He dipped his head to his chest, closing his eyes as he regulated his breathing.

After a moment, he looked back up to Nellith, his eyes lilac-gray again.

"You're alive," he croaked.

"So are you," she replied, a smile spreading across her face as tears bubbled into her eyes. She then embraced him, nearly tackling him on the hospital bed. Tears fell from her face as they both laughed, for relief and everything they had gone through.

As Jaina entered the room, Nellith stood, but didn't dare let go of Tallis's hand.

"Don't run off like that!" Jaina protested as she clutched her side, gasping her breath, but she still looked fairly pleased.

Tallis looked to Jaina, and Nellith could feel his heartbeat quickened.

"Is Abeloth. . . " he trailed off, too afraid to possibly curse the ancient deity back into existence.

"Gone," Nellith promised. "Forever."

He kissed her right then and there, running his hands through her braid.

"Calm down, you two," Jaina said. "At least wait until a medic clears you to get off that bed."

"Right," Nellith said, blushing.

"So it's all over, the war, Abeloth, everything?" Tallis asked.

Nellith nodded, tears still running down her face.

"I-I can't believe it," Tallis said, tears welling up in his eyes as well. "And I'm—"

"Pardoned," Nellith said. "Not everyone knows you're alive yet— and those who do think of you as a hero for making the armistice happen."

"I-I'm a hero?" he pointed at himself, dumbfounded. "Like Mom always wanted me to be?"

"Yes," Nellith said. "We're both heroes."

And they embraced, welcome to the future that now flowed towards them like a lazy Aquilae river. And in Nellith's mind, she saw the two of them, watching the Twin Suns set many years into the future.

* * *

 **AN: So ends the _Jedi Queen_ series. Thank you to all readers who stuck with Nellith until, the end. I appreciate all the reads and reviews, and am somewhat sad to finally end this series. **


End file.
